Letters

The NUS leadership condemns critics of its plans for governance changes as the "hard left" (New year, new union, January 8). Many of the dissenters are, in fact, moderates, at least on the student politics scale - people like the Young Greens, who have no truck with hard-left factionalism.

The critics object to the governance review because it does things such as remove representation of black, gay and disabled students from the board, replacing them with appointed "external professionals" (lawyers, accountants etc). The annual conference will be turned from a voting body into what the review explicitly calls a "celebration of the year" - in other words, a rally. And the way the review itself was conducted was, by all accounts, undemocratic - critical submissions were largely ignored, and the whole thing was presented as a fait accompli to the (appointed, not elected) steering group.

On the ground, a huge grassroots movement is building up against the reforms, and the leadership faces a very real possibility of defeat. Many students are going to be running for the NUS conference delegate position this year on an explicitly anti-reform platform, and it won't take many of them to win before the whole thing will be sunk.

Tom WalkerEditor, The Inquirer City University, London

· While the NUS governance review calls for the union to be more democratic, it waters down the requirement for delegates to the annual conference to be elected; while it claims to increase student involvement, it gives more power to a small clique; while it claims to increase the power of "real students", it cedes massive powers to a self-perpetuating board of trustees that will have the power to veto any decision made by the remaining democratic bodies of the NUS.

If the NUS is to remain, or some may say become, relevant to students today, any change it undertakes must be to involve students, instead of further alienating them. If the review passes at the conference on April 1, it will be one of the last steps towards the destruction of an independent student voice in this country. On April 1, only fools will be voting for change. Stephen Knight Union president 2007-08Sheffield College Students' Union

Let's hear about diplomas

Education Guardian's diplomas research (Diplomas off to a halting start, January 8) highlights the serious questions that the government still hasn't answered about the impending launch of the new qualification.

The government must pay attention to the sentiments of the headteachers surveyed. Everyone involved in the delivery of the crucial reform must be educated about diplomas' important strategic position in the curriculum as an alternative to traditional academic qualifications. Without this understanding, support will not come and heads won't be able to make the informed decision to offer diplomas that is vital to the success of the qualification.

Diplomas are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the education system, engage young people and plug the vocational gap by introducing practical learning into the mainstream curriculum. Diplomas can fill the void, but the government must continue to answer our questions and do more to convince everyone involved that this is the case. Andy Powell Edge educational foundationLondon W1

The chancellor's duty

Lord Patten's duty is surely to support the university of which he is chancellor (Letters, January 8). It is the vice-chancellor's duty to support the chancellor in that endeavour, not the other way round.

In a university run by a small governing body with a majority of external members, as all but Oxford and Cambridge now are, the chairman of that body is the line-manager of the vice-chancellor, and has a duty to call him to account when necessary and not to support him right or wrong. Professor Gillian Evans University of Cambridge

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